Chapter 1: My Dear Aunt Amy

As I filled the duffel bag on my bed with clothes and enough prized possessions to get me through the summer, I kept hearing snippets of my mother's voice that night as she talked to Aunt Amy on the phone.

"He's gone crazy..." "I can't deal with him any more..." "bad influence..." "afraid to leave him alone..."

That last one was the clincher. My dear Aunt Amy, had then made the offer my mom couldn't refuse. "Why don't you let him come spend the summer here with us?"

"Really?" my mom had asked as the clouds of despair were parting. "Do you think you can handle him? I mean with Jack out at sea and all?" My Uncle Jack was in the merchant marine and could be gone for months at a time.

"Oh it's no problem. At least he'll be away from that boy, and besides I've got Tori and Cassy here to help keep him in line" She said.

"Tori..." I thought. "The Hun".

"Tori the Hun" was what I had called her for years now, because she was ruthless. She'd kick me in the nuts just to say hello. She was only sixteen, but when she was staring me down with those cold black eyes she seemed older than Aunt Amy.

Cassy, her sister was like her little toady when they were dealing with me. She was slightly older than me, but nowhere near as fierce as Tori. One on one I could handle her just fine, but when she was with her sister I was no match for them.

Luckily for me they lived about an hour north in Maine, not too far from the beach. So I didn't see them all that often. But that was about to change. At least for the summer. I shivered.